Lead Toxicity Showing Up in Flint Area's Dogs

Jenn Gidman, Newser Staff

February 5, 2016

(NEWSER) – First it was the kids of Flint found to have been tainted by lead, attributed by many to the area's toxic water. Now two dogs who live in the vicinity of the Michigan city have tested positive for lead toxicity—the first two pups to be confirmed with this in state records in five years, the Detroit Free Press reports.

{ "position1" : { "type" : "show", "id" : 23887462, "name" : "Pet Life Radio", "description" : "Pet Life Radio is the largest and #1 pet radio network on the planet, featuring over 50 weekly pet-related talk shows hosted by the most well-known pet experts, authors and radio and TV personalities in the world of animals and pets! With over five million monthly listeners Pet Life Radio has hosted celebrity guests like Jennifer Aniston, Betty White, and Ryan O’Neal. Pet Life Radio just recently won an Honorable Mention at the 2012 Genesis Awards. Pet Life Radio has millions of pet loving listeners worldwide! For more information visit www.PetLifeRadio.com. Pet Life Radio is available on-demand from the PetLifeRadio.com website, iTunes and over 30 podcast distributors. Our livestream is broadcast globally on the PetLifeRadio.com home page as well as to smart phones, mobile devices and cars through iTunes Radio, TuneIn Radio, Stitcher Radio, Nokia Radio and ooTunes Radio.", "slug" : "Pet-Life-Radio" } }

"Here in Michigan, specifically in [Genesee] County, we've had two cases of high-lead levels reported to us in dogs in the last six months," state vet Dr. James Averill tells CBS Detroit. "One was last fall and one was here in January." He says that one of the affected dogs was a stray, while the other was a pet. Both dogs are alive, Averill notes, but the state report doesn't specify how high their lead levels were, or what symptoms they had.